Plant Source Matters!

There are so many reasons why native plant specialty nurseries are the best places to buy native plants, and I was recently reminded of one particularly important reason.

In the spring, native woodland plants started to appear at regular nurseries under the label “Ontario Natives.” I didn’t get picky about the fact that some of them weren’t Ontario natives (e.g. yellow trillium, Trillium luteum). But I was intrigued because many of the plants for sale with the “Ontario Natives” label are species that are hard to find for sale even at native plant nurseries: woodlanders such as trilliums, Jack-in-the-pulpit, hepatica, blue cohosh, turk’s cap lily, etc. Most importantly, these are species that are often wild-dug, in the U.S., a practice that depletes wild populations.

So, going into Nancy Drew mode, I started to investigate.

What I found out—or, rather, didn’t find out—spoke volumes.

The “Ontario Natives” line is distributed by Sipkens Nurseries to a number of nurseries in Ontario (not to specialty native plant nurseries, as far as I know, but to general nurseries). When I contacted Sipkens with very specific questions, I was given general answers.

I asked if the plants were grown in the U.S. and potted up here, and was told, “Some are grown from seed and division in our nursery while others are purchased from another nursery grower. None are from wild harvesting.”

I followed up three times (April, May and August) re-asking my question about specific species they sell and whether or not they come from a U.S. sourse.

Sipkens didn’t answer. Yet knowing the answer is of interest and importance to native plant gardeners who 1) don’t want “native plants” grown in Texas, for example, with genetics that might make them less fit in Ontario and might cross with locally adapted species; 2) want a meaningful guarantee right from the source (“another nnursery grower”) that the plants are not wild-dug.

Sipkens didn’t answer.

One more reason to buy your native plants from local native plant nurseries! They will answer your questions about source and genetic provenance.

For a list of local native plant nurseries, visit the North American Native Plant Society website, www.nanps.org or join the Facebook group Ontario Native Plant Gardeners, or check out the Halton Master Gardeners’ list: https://haltonmastergardeners.com/2020/03/28/native-plants-nurseries-in-ontario/

Evolution of the Front Garden

I was devastated when the huge ash tree in the front yard succumbed to emerald ash borer and was cut down by the city.

But this was an opportunity to totally redo the garden!

We planted a red oak and dozens of sun-loving native meadow plants. Below is a photo of the new garden on planting day, May 2018.

Planting day, May 28, 2018

Here it is, a year later, August 2019.

The native meadow plants have flourished with very little maintenance and almost no supplementary watering. Below, the front garden at the beginning of its third growing season, May 2020.

And here it is, flourishing in late summer of its third growing season, August 2020.

Chard and the Creeper

Every year, I plant Swiss chard from seed in a large-ish pot along the front walkway.

Some Virginia creeper volunteered in the spot, and I love the way it rambles. I cut the creeper back every now and again but allow it to cool the space.

May, 2021

The young Swiss chard leaves always get munched by leaf miners but I don’t do much other than squish them. I figure that the leaf miner season is short and the chard is indestructible. Maybe one year I’ll cover the newly planted chard with a row cover…

June, 2021

August 2021

But for the past few years, the chard has flourished with almost no care, and the creeper has done its thing. Generosity!

Tending to Place and Community

I was delighted this year when Kim Jackson, a wonderful person I got to know a bit through work they were involved with at the Humber 2-Spirit garden and at Our Space in High Park, invited me to join a very active Friends group at Watkinson Parkette in the Junction area of Toronto. Every two weeks, a group of us gathers in the parkette where, along with a Trans Youth group from a local community centre, we plant and tend to tobacco, sage, sweetgrass and native pollinator plants. Elders share teachings, 2-Spirit community members lead ceremony, we share food and stories, and we basically spend time with each other and with this space, caring. Harvesting of plant medicines, to distirbute to community, is a very special time. All time in this space is special medicine.

We added some grow-bags with native pollinator plants beside the park benches. The monarda and smooth ox-eye bloomed just a few weeks after planting.

Harvesting sweetgrass for braiding.

Harvesting sage.

Harvesting tobacco.

A small planting for pollinators in the parkette.